My name is Olimar, captain of the S.S. Dolphin. Allow me to narate my first eventful trip to an unknown planet we now call PNF-404...

Prelude

The stars of space illuminated the sky as I steered my beloved Dolphin to a nearby tropical planet for vacation after getting myself exhausted from conducting a lot of work for the company I work for, the Hocotate Freight shipping company. My family requested a vacation for me after seeing me coming home overworked, I really needed it to tell you the truth. I felt like a robot, doing nothing but work. For some reason, something was telling me not to go on this vacation. I wondered, what could possibly go wrong? I shook off the feeling, I got a similar feeling sometimes when visiting exotic planets but it's just prone to happen. Little did I know.. it was more than that.

I didn't have the slightest idea my life would change, the rather dull days of delivering things over and over were soon going to be replaced by struggling for survival on an unknown planet.. it was sort of irony, as I had a large interest in foreign planets and wildlife, and I would soon be close to the things that aroused curiosity and interest, in the form of an undesirable event..

It seemed it was only yesterday I was looking out the cockpit of my ship, the S.S. Dolphin, and contemplating my life when suddenly the Guard Satellite gave off a loud shriek. A meteor was approaching my ship! Already being snapped out of my thoughts and into reality, I grabbed the controls without hesitation and attempted to steer out of the way.. with no luck...

I clenched my teeth and held on tightly. I could hear the Guard Satellite's siren whining, a loud, metallic crunch, and the sound of my own heart in my ears. Normally, I could easily avoid these kind of situations. But not this one.

As my beloved ship plummeted into the atmosphere of an unknown planet, I only thought of my family before blacking out...

Exploration Day 1: The Impact Site

I'm alive.

It was a miracle, I was alive and I had no apparent injuries.. but where was I now?

Right... the meteor...

I stood up feeling woozy. I scanned the area to notice indubitably the most beautiful place I've ever seen! For that moment, I forgot I was in a crisis. I was

taken away by this unknown planet's characteristics.. the area was mostly grass, and natural grown, bright green grass, unlike the scarce brown grass I'm lucky enough to encounter on the barren wasteland of Hocotate Freight.

After what seemed like minutes, I finally got to work. I turned around to see my ship in the worst condition I've ever seen. It was a nightmare.

Analysis shows that my life support systems had severe damage and could only last 30 days, and it turned out I had 30 ship parts missing... what was I going to do? Feeling hopeless, I sat down in the grass and looked at the sky. The situation was depressing. Where the hell could have all thirty of those parts went?! How could I lift them let alone find them?! I doubted anymore than five of these parts weren't necessary, but it's not like it mattered. How could I escape in thirty days?

After what seemed like forever I decided to go search for my missing parts or something that could help me, I couldn't wait thirty days to die... I couldn't give up. My next discovery though, eased the hopeless feeling by a lot...

I stridded towards a brown object in the shape of an onion, at first I thought it was a ship part before it turned from it's brown color to a bright red, sprouted a flower, and came out of the ground with three vine-like legs, knocking me backwards. None of the parts to the Dolphin did this, of course.

Luckily it didn't do further damage to my suit. After getting off of the ground a second time, I took a closer look. A stem was sticking out of the ground. Mixed emotions struck me. What did I just witness? I couldn't help but stare at the sprout. It was red with a leaf. I noted the similarity it had with one of my favorite foods, the Pikpik Carrot. I hesitated to pluck the sprout, which changed my fate.

It was a creature, upon plucking it and landed on the ground with a gentle thud. It was a red humanoid creature, two legs, two arms, a pair of eyes, and a nose. It made an adorable sound upon plucking. It had a leaf on it's head. It seemed to be fond of me for some odd reason... this felt like a dream. I thought for a moment, and decided to call the creature a Pikmin.

Without warning it went over to a flower next to the machine that made the seed and started attacking it, a red, round pellet fell to the ground where the Pikmin picked it up and brought it over to the machine I shall now call an onion due to its resemblance to a vegetable back on Hocotate with the name. The onion sucked up the pellet and produced two more sprouts.

Now I get it.. the Pikmin, Onion, and pellets are related. This was so unreal.

It seemed like it'd be the right thing to do to hunt for more pellet posies and bring them to the Onion. The Pikmin followed me! Throwing them proved to be effective, as it didn't hurt the Pikmin and in a way signaled them to attack whatever they were thrown at. Astonishing... they must see me as some sort of "superior" Pikmin. Perhaps it was the bulb on my helmet? Or could they have seen me as their only hope for survival as well as a way to save their population?

I discovered a "5" pellet near the area where I crashed my ship in. I took note of the fact that the number on the top was the number of Pikmin needed to carry it. I'm unsure if it's the number of Pikmin it is supposed to produce, as the "1" pellets make two Pikmin instead of one as the "5" pellet made five seeds.

I made eleven Pikmin total and pushed a rectangular object with the help of the Pikmin out of the way, not only expanding the area I could explore but also finding... my ship's engine! It must've been luck... I couldn't believe it! With this engine, my Dolphin could lift into the atmosphere, but not yet leave the planet. I gathered more pellets until I had a total of twenty-five of these red plant-animal hybrids before lifting the engine. It was a bit dirty but it would work. The Pikmin carried it back to the ship.. almost as if they were meant to be under my command.

After getting my ship upright and putting the engine in, it was dark now. I felt uneasy... the Pikmin also appeared spooked. I went off into my ship to launch into the atmosphere. In theory, there were nearby noctural predators that could prove to be threatening to my life. To my surprise, the onion lifted off as well and followed me... it looks like the Pikmin had their hearts set on following me, but I needed them as much as they needed me. I was thankful... I spent the night making a HUD that could count the amount of Pikmin with me, in the field, and in the area overall including onions. Further research shows that no one has yet discovered the Pikmin despite that this planet isn't far from others. It's a large universe and more creatures are being discovered every minute.

That night my head was flooding with thoughts. Especially ones of my family. If I didn't get home soon, they'd worry.. maybe they could send help? I'm not too sure. I'm only going to rely on myself here, and of course, the Pikmin. I couldn't do this without them.. I have twenty-nine more parts to find as well as days to live if I don't return to my planet on time. They were amazing creatures, they have proven to be intelligent as well. Are there more species? Can Pikmin swim? Do they eat? What to they think of me? I had so many unanswered questions.. I decided to keep a part of my log reserved for information on the Pikmin. Getting to know them would be essential for my survival. Seeing as I could now lift into the atmosphere, my ship's scanners found a nearby location that has several parts. I could access it as it was in the Dolphin's range.

Two areas with known parts.. the first one is where I landed, second one being this nearby forest. I simply named the first area the Impact Site. The name is self-explanatory and it's, well, the impact site. I decided to name the new area the Forest Of Hope. I would begin my search tomorrow. I was a bit anxious as it was clearly larger than the Impact Site and I had a feeling I would not be as lucky as I was the previous day.

Satisfied with my current progress as well as the name for the new area, and stressed about my situation, I finally fell in to fatigue and drifted into sleep.

(Author's note: this is my first story, what do you guys think? I think it was pretty decent. I'm kinda nervous about this as I haven't posted anything before xD I have an idea for Day 2, stay tuned for more!)